Ramadan Zaman in Nablus … From “The Market Going Down” to “Al-Tohishah” with the video – This is how Nablus celebrates the holy month

As if she is a bride preparing for her wedding day, she is Nablus these days. The last ten days of Ramadan are described as the most beautiful in the city, preserving traditions and customs that are decades old.

The Corona pandemic last year prevented the revival of these traditions and the organization of appropriate activities for them, especially the “market is descending”, but it attended this year, albeit to a lesser extent and sporadically. Read also Ramadan Zaman in Jordan .. Cannon Iftar, “Al Masakbeh”, and the stories of the storyteller Ramadan is the time for “money lol” in Qatar … mischiefs, family solidarity, and sessions are customs that have ceased to exist and others resist.Ramadan Zaman in Morocco .. Popular songs for children and rituals celebrating the young fasting Ramadan is a time in Lebanon .. Memories of familiarity and simplicity when families were one heart

There, at the door of the square in Al-Nasr Street in the middle of old Nablus, or in any of its seven ancient neighborhoods, the flame of the story is lit in these nights, and people gather, young and old, watching with the eager eyes the rituals and events they have spent a lifetime of.

The market has a story that the Nablus people know, young and old, and if it is mentioned in front of them, their eyes flood their minds of their childhood and the beautiful moments they lived. The market is the place and the hostel is every visitor to the market, from young to old and “swaddling the bed” (the infant).

A storyteller in Nablus

Taher Bakir, a storyteller in the city of Nablus, tells the story of “the market is going down” to Al-Jazeera Net. He says that the market is a heritage tradition that is unique to the Nablus people and revives it.
When Ramadan enters, boys break their fear and seek comfort after breakfast and perform Tarawih prayers. They go out to the market, where groups of males and females “before the age of puberty” lodged in the lanes and alleys.

The older girl described as “tall and sane” leads them, and they carried lamps with their hands that they made of watermelon or squash after removing the pulp from the peel, or an empty vessel known as “keela” and placed wax inside.

“The market is going down,” and they are chanting behind it, “and I went down to the market, and found me (I found) an apple, a red red an apple. He fell asleep, raid him, and drank his oil and his oil. Hanna dates hanging at the door of heaven. “

“O my daughters, my daughters.”

Then the girl sang, in her Nablus dialect, “Oh, my sons, oh my sons.” Then the children answered , “Yes, yes, yes, yama.” Children chant “what we want, what we want,” as well as with the vendors of qadamah, “alnqares” (entertainment), fakhani, and others.

Children gather and congregate in front of a seller of sweets or entertainments and snacks (nuts), chanting for him, and he scours a room the size of his palm and gives them the treats, and from one vendor to another they collect their belongings in a “tahwija”, which is a bag of linen cloth, to be eaten later.

These children are not satisfied with what they collected, but go to buy other sweets, such as cotton candy, from their own expenses.

“The market is like a reward for children by allowing them to go out after sunset to encourage them to fast,” Bakir says.

Traditional costume and fez

Until now, the scene is not much different, as children go out with their families to the alleys and alleys of the Old City to shop and listen to the religious singing groups, the Levantine Arada, the popular music and the storyteller.

Taher Bakir maintains this tradition and, under any circumstance, refuses to abandon it, even in light of the Corona pandemic, last year he told his stories from the rooftops and people used to listen to him from the windows.

Bakir, who was well prepared and wore his traditional dress and fez to celebrate a “storytelling night” on the roof of a popular café, says that the “flavor” of the market is in the presence of the old town and with the storyteller whose stories are the lessons and wisdom for adults and the enjoyment of the young. “The whole family comes today to hear and see.”

“The market is down”

It is noteworthy that the atmosphere of the “market is descending” is not limited to the people of the city, as the villagers come to live the atmosphere and shop at the same time.

The young Saleh Abu Aziz, coming from the countryside of Nablus, comments that he lived the last traditions of the market 3 years ago, as the city was filled with religious singing groups, prophetic praises, storytellers and clowns.

He adds that organizing events on a large scale is now banned due to the Corona pandemic.

On the other hand, Nabulsi citizen Qusay Ayran says that “the market is going down” this year, despite the closure, I attended more strongly than last year, with different and varied activities.

He attributes this to the “great pressure” that people and children experience, especially due to the frequent closures of their entertainment areas, including parks and public parks.

Al-Touhaishah, Nablusia

And like “the market is going down,” Nablus moisturizes the tongues of its people just before the dawn call to prayer every day in the last ten days as well, with “tawhesh,” which are religious stanzas that are said as a reminder of the remainder of the blessed month and bid farewell with sadness and grief over its beautiful days.

The muwashahiyyah, who are people who take turns performing the Tawheesh, through the unified call to prayer, repeat the chants and prayers on the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him:

“I am not out of favor with you, O Ramadan … O mineral of good deeds and kindness.”

Sorry for his days and nights .. the nights of remembrance and the Qur’an were

Hey, do you see, can we come back and meet … in this month, my brothers? “

This Tohousheh captivates the hearts and minds of many people in Nablus, and to hear it racing, including the young woman Lababa Thouqan, who rushed to document the “first Tawhishah” via video with her mobile phone and then publish it on her page on the communication sites.

Lababah says – to Al-Jazeera Net – that ta`hesh has a special elegance in Nablus, just as Ramadan has a special atmosphere as well. “Our father always woke us up from sleep to hear distraction from the beginning, just before the pre-dawn.

A tradition unique to Nablus

Touhesh is an authentic Nablus tradition that is decades old and is unique to the city, and it precedes the time of the dawn call to prayer by an hour, and is via loudspeakers in mosques, and that is why the unified call to prayer network of Nablus came to support monotheism and increase its presence, according to Sheikh Husam Abu Salih, Muwashah, the Hajj Nimr Mosque in Nablus.

He tells Al-Jazeera Net that they have inherited monotheism from their ancestors, as a beautiful custom that aims to “praise, remind, and seize the last days of Ramadan.”

And it is not in vain that Nablus or “the Levant” – as it is called – revive such customs, as it is one of the oldest cities in the world and the mother of three religions (Islam, Christianity and Samaria) that are worthy of preserving these traditions.